NEWS AND OPINION:
So 2023 has finally arrived, Capitol Hill is in turmoil and the citizenry is either confused, concerned or uninterested. Now what?
“Here’s how to be happy in 2023. Make saving the Republic your New Year’s resolution,” advises Roger L. Simon, a columnist for The Epoch Times.
“Forget the usual losing 10 pounds. It’s a bit frivolous now and, let’s be honest, how many times have we actually done it? Something far more important has presented itself, and demands our urgent attention for 2023,” Mr. Simon wrote.
“Our Republic is vanishing, if it still exists at all — and is being replaced by a technocratic surveillance state with a more than passing similarity to communist China,” he said.
“But we — We, the People — have the power to defeat this. Don’t look to politicians to do it for you. Many, if not most, are already bought and paid for by the same forces. If a few do something good, so much the better. But don’t rely on it. Rely on yourself,” Mr. Simon advised.
“The way to succeed isn’t complicated if you remember that you too are media. You have a voice. You can and should pass information to people as much and as often as you can. You don’t have to have a podcast or your own Substack. Person-to-person contact is often better and more effective. Most of our country doesn’t realize what’s happening to them. Explain it. Change will come from this,” he said.
Be polite, patient and honest, Mr. Simon added. Don’t be pushy or dwell on the “doom and gloom” that plagues the nation.
“It’s time for a resurgence of optimism. Pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy employed by the globalists to engineer a future that none of us should want. So I urge all to make saving our republic your number one new year’s resolution for 2023,” Mr. Simon later concluded.
STILL STUCK IN A RUT
The nation needs a little TLC. Or something.
“Americans are greeting 2023 with great skepticism and little expectation that the economic struggles that closed out 2022 will abate. Few U.S. adults also predict the partisan politics that plague the nation will improve, not an unreasonable expectation given that there will be a divided government in 2023 after Republicans won control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The public’s predictions for international affairs are similarly pessimistic,” reports Megan Brenan, a research consultant for Gallup.
And the pollster has a wide-ranging poll on these matters. See the Poll du Jour at column’s end for a sampling of this trend.
GET ON WITH IT
The GOP melodrama continues on Capitol Hill as Republican lawmakers tussle over their future leader. One person who knows them all very well offers insight about the process — as well as the potential outcome.
“The American people, they don’t understand all the rules, and the motion to vacate. They want to see us do their business. They know that our country is not on the right track,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told Fox Business Network on Wednesday.
“You look at every right track/wrong track poll right now, and people don’t feel better under the Biden administration. They want to see us tackle what’s happening at the border. They want to see us take care of kids who are still having major deficits coming out of the pandemic. They want us to tackle the crime that’s happening under Democrat rule in Democrat cities across this country,” she advised.
“So, they’re saying, get it done. We just gave you the House. Figure it out and let’s start working,” Mrs. McDaniel concluded.
FOXIFIED
In the week of Dec. 26-Jan. 1, Fox News remained the leading cable news network with viewers throughout the day and in the prime-time hours for the 98th consecutive week.
Fox News drew an average audience of 1.3 million prime-time viewers, compared with MSNBC with 831,000 viewers and CNN with 688,000, according to Nielsen Media Research. “The Five” was the most-watched cable news program of the week across the board, with an average of 2.8 million viewers per day.
Fox News rounded out 2022 on New Year’s Eve with the “All-American New Year 2023” broadcast live from Nashville, Tennessee — which drew 1.4 million as the midnight hour approached.
NOT MADE IN AMERICA
Has the nation forgotten how to make things? Or is the marketplace itself askew?
“U.S. manufacturing operating conditions deteriorate at the fastest rate since May 2020,” says a new report from the S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index.
“Manufacturing firms in the U.S. indicated a solid decline in the health of the sector during December,” the report said.
“The latest data signaled the fastest decline in operating conditions since May 2020, and was among the sharpest since 2009. Production levels at manufacturing firms contracted for the second month running at the end of the year. Output fell at a solid pace that was the quickest in just over two-and-a-half years, as client demand waned and new orders fell further,” it continued.
The monthly index is based on responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers at around 800 manufacturers.
“The manufacturing sector posted a weak performance as 2022 was brought to a close, as output and new orders contracted at sharper rates. Demand for goods dwindled as domestic orders and export sales dropped. Muted demand conditions also led to downward adjustments of stock holdings, as excess inventories built earlier in the year were depleted in lieu of further spending on inputs. With the exception of the initial pandemic period, stocks of purchases fell at the steepest rate since 2009,” Sian Jones, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a news release.
POLL DU JOUR
• 90% of U.S. adults predict 2023 will be “a year of political conflict.”
• 85% predict it will be a “troubled year with much international discord.”
• 81% predict it will be “a year when taxes will rise.”
• 79% predict it will be “a year of economic difficulty.”
• 72% predict it will be “a year of rising crime rates.”
• 64% predict it will be “a year when American power will decline.”
• 56% predict it will be “a year of many labor union series.”
SOURCE: A Gallup Poll of 1,803 U.S. adults conducted Dec. 5-19 and released Jan. 3.
• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @Harperbulletin.
